Fayetteville gussies up its downtown square every year for Christmas. The city makes a big deal out of it. We’ve never been so we thought we ought to go before blowing this popsicle stand. I have to say I was underwhelmed. It was fairly pretty, but it was tough to find a good photo. Maybe if I had my tripod and I weren’t doing a family outing and the wind weren’t blowing about 50 mph, I’d have got some better photos.
But it gave me a chance to play with my new photo toy. I’ve been watching the Circuit City going-out-of-business sale and, like the F’ville Christmas lights, it’s been underwhelming. The Circuit City powers finally decided to get real on Monday and slashed their camera lenses and flashes by 50 percent. Now, 50 percent of Circuit City’s regular prices is not like getting this stuff for half the real price you’ll see at real camera stores that do business over the Internets. But, still, they’re good prices.
I got an SB-600 flash for $109 and a 70-300mm lens for $325. I figure I saved about $70 on the flash and $70-$80 on the lens. The cool thing about the flash is that it can be fired wirelessly off-camera by my D90. So I tried a little of that on the square.
I wanted to get the lights exposed correctly with just a little light from the flash kissing Abby and Gina’s faces. I cranked the ISO to 1250 and shot wide open holding my flash out to the side. It took me awhile to get the flash power right, so I didn’t get very many keepers. This last one is my favorite. Gina and Abby were windblown and not in any mood to pose while I messed around trying to get it right. I finally got it right after their patience had expired.
Comments
that baby needs a pony. she’s a born rider you can tell from her expression
Nice work. Have you ever thought of becoming a freelance photographer for the Morning News?